UPSC Story: Dongre Revaiah Makes Widowed Mid-day Cook Mother Proud; Becomes an IAS

Not everyone is fortunate enough to experience an inspiration that would someday materialize into success. The story we are about to walk you through is exactly just that. Dongre Revaiah, the son of a struggling widowed mother who works as a midday cook in a government school, made that inspiration into a true success! He made it to the UPSC CSE merit list 2022 with an AIR 410.

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The Union Public Services Commission Civil Services Examination is a national competitive examination in India for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS).

It is considered to be as tough as any other top-level exam in the world, and many students aspire to take the exam every year. Those fortunate few who make it to the list inherit the top bureaucratic posts in the country.

Dongre Revaiah: Academic Background

Dongre Revaiah did his entire schooling at Social Welfare schools in Telangana.
He successfully cleared the IIT JEE exam and gained admission into IIT Madras for Chemical Engineering.
He appeared for the GATE examination and achieved an AIR 70, securing a job at ONGC.
He worked for 5 years at ONGC Mumbai High.
Later, he cracked UPSC CSE 2022 with an AIR 410.
His optional subject for the CSE Main was mathematics.

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The Struggle That Made Revaiah Dongre Resilient and Successful

At the age of 4, he lost his father. Since then, his mother, Vistarra Bai, started to work as a mid-day meal cook in a government school to support the family. His mother's hard-earned money was not at all sufficient to support the demands of the family and educational needs.

Nonetheless, his mother always motivated her son to excel in life. He also didn’t disappoint her.

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He first cracked IIT, then GATE, and finally UPSC CSE 2022. His journey from a small village in Komaram Bheem district in Telangana to one of the most elitist professions in the country is truly an inspiration to students aspiring to try the UPSC CSE.

Indelible Inspiration: An Encounter With Dr. Ashok, District Magistrate

Academically bright and promising, he successfully cleared the IIT JEE exam and gained admission into IIT Madras for Chemical Engineering. However, he faced a hurdle when he couldn’t afford the IIT registration fee of INR 20,000.

That was when Revaiah decided to approach Dr. Ashok, District Magistrate, who generously provided INR 20,000. Additionally, the DM gave a newspaper advertisement that resulted in crowdfunding of around INR 1.8 Lakh. This financial support enabled him to complete his higher education. This encounter with the DM left an indelible mark on him, as he told himself, “If I become a District Magistrate like him, I too can help many people.”

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This trigger point propelled Revaiah not to look back until the dream of being a UPSC officer was achieved.

Revaiah Dongre UPSC Preparation Journey

He started his preparation along with his job at ONGC and gave his 1st UPSC CSE attempt in 2021. He balanced his studies and job on his first attempt. He was selected for the interview but missed the final list by just 2 marks. Then, he resigned from his job and appeared again for the 2nd attempt which eventually secured him AIR 410.

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This journey exemplifies the strength and resilience he developed in the face of adversity, allowing him to overcome various constraints and achieve academic and professional success.

Revaiah’s Prelims Strategy

He used to focus heavily on static. He had read standard books multiple times like Spectrum and Laxmikant. He focused a lot on Science & Tech and the Environmental Studies because there are many questions from it.
For current affairs, he couldn’t manage to read the newspaper. Instead, he relied on PT 365 of Vision IAS and solved the Insights Monthly quiz. His main focus was not just on reading extensively but on revising the material repeatedly.
He set a goal of attempting a minimum of 90 quality mock questions.
He preferred to give mock exams from 2-3 different institutes in order to extract the best quality questions possible from different sources.

Note: Keep your mind open – many questions can be solved by common sense. Keep your confidence level high. This will definitely put you on the positive side. Try to avoid overthinking in the exam hall.

Revaiah`s Mains Strategy

In his first attempt, he didn’t have time to make notes and relied solely on Sunya IAS mains notes to support my preparation.
In his second attempt, he structured his notes to include a few pros, a few issues, and a few suggestions. Additionally, he made separate notes specifically dedicated to data and examples. The primary goal of these notes was to provide a comprehensive and organized overview of each topic. He focused on revising them as frequently as possible, ensuring that the information was deeply ingrained in his memory and readily accessible during the exam.
He spent more than 60% of his time on Optional. For GS, his focus was on writing answers in time, examples, supporting data, supreme court judgments, and committee recommendations.
To stay updated with current affairs, he relied heavily on the ForumIAS current affairs course by Bipin Sir and their test series. These resources provided valuable insights and helped him stay informed about the latest developments.
He recognized the importance of presentation in main answer writing. He strived to present his thoughts clearly and avoid monotony to make his answers more appealing to examiners. He found that incorporating visual aids such as maps, flow charts, and micro diagrams improved the presentation and made his answers more engaging.

A Note To All UPSC CSE Aspirants

Now and then, we will come across stories like this, and we ought to digest the lessons learned into our system as we endeavour to reach our goal. Here are a few indelible points extracted from the story of Revaiah Dongre for you to reflect on and get some motivational vibes-

Some are born with silver spoons and some in penury, but success does not really bother about that. Rather, it is your mentality and inherent potential within you.
Recognize your potential and work on it tirelessly. It will definitely bear fruit as long as you take care of it with smart action.
There will be someone to approach when you need help if you`re firm in getting your work done.
Everyone encounters a lifetime inspiration now and then. It's how you digest the inspiration as your trigger point to achieve your goal.

Wishes and regards to all the aspirants!

Kaihrii Thomas

Associate Content Writer

Instinctively, I fall for nature, music, humour, reading, writing, listening, travelling, observing, learning, unlearning, friendship, exercise, etc., all these from the cradle to the grave- that's ME! It's my irrefutable belief in the uniqueness of all. I'll vehemently defend your right to be your best while I expect the same from you!